Details

Updated openssl packages that fix one security issue are now available forRed Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as havingImportant security impact. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS)base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available from theCVE link in the References section.

OpenSSL is a toolkit that implements the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL v2/v3)and Transport Layer Security (TLS v1) protocols, as well as afull-strength, general purpose cryptography library.

An information disclosure flaw was found in the way OpenSSL handled TLS andDTLS Heartbeat Extension packets. A malicious TLS or DTLS client or servercould send a specially crafted TLS or DTLS Heartbeat packet to disclose alimited portion of memory per request from a connected client or server.Note that the disclosed portions of memory could potentially includesensitive information such as private keys. (CVE-2014-0160)

Red Hat would like to thank the OpenSSL project for reporting this issue.Upstream acknowledges Neel Mehta of Google Security as the originalreporter.

All OpenSSL users are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, whichcontain a backported patch to correct this issue. For the update to takeeffect, all services linked to the OpenSSL library (such as httpd and otherSSL-enabled services) must be restarted or the system rebooted.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure all previously released erratarelevant to your system have been applied.